Daily news and other information from the city made famous around the globe by the "Maidan Revolution".

Friday, August 28, 2015

Russia’s Dirty War In Ukraine

WASHINGTON, DC -- You have to wonder what the Kremlin has been thinking. I mean, did they really think they were going to get away with it? I guess the official narrative is still mainly for domestic consumption, but internationally, the Ukrainian cat is officially out of the bag.

People fish in a stream outside a steel factory in the Sea of Azov port city, Mariupol, Ukraine, Tuesday, March 10, 2015. The bulk of continued unrest along the 485-kilometer (300-mile) front lines, between Ukraine's government forces and Russia-backed rebels, has been concentrated around the separatist stronghold of Donetsk, but pitched battles are also taking place in the town of Shyrokyne, near the strategic port city of Mariupol.

Earlier this week, Business Life, a Russian finance periodical, posted budget data that appeared to show exact figures for payments made for dead soldiers and those maimed in combat, Ukrainian combat that is.

The data showed approximately 2,000 killed in action and another 3,200 declared an “invalid” due to war injuries.

We’re talking Russian troops here.

The West doesn’t need to heed the words of retired U.S. Army Gen. Scales to kill as many Russians as possible to end the conflict.

The Ukrainian military seems to be doing a fine job of that all by themselves.

Beside the obvious question of how long the offender who accidently posted the data (it was immediately removed by Kremlin censors) is going to spend in hard labor in Siberia, one has to wonder.

I mean, did Moscow actually think, in the age of the Internet and the 90-minute news cycle, really think they could wage a major war and hide all the evidence?

Even worse, how does a government prevent mothers of dead and maimed soldiers from finding out the truth of what happened to their sons?

It has been reported that the families are threatened with the loss of financial benefits if they discuss the fate of their children, siblings, fathers, etc.

It certainly is not a government that cares about the Russian-speaking people as the Kremlin purports to do.

I think this is what the prime minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, was talking about when he said that Russia does not share Western values.

To borrow a phrase from the prison warden in “Cool Hand Luke,” what we have here is a failure to communicate (the right information).

What we also have in Ukraine is a really nasty, Slavic civil war.

As Russian President Vladimir Putin famously told George W. Bush, “You see George, Ukraine is not a country.”

Ordinary Russians see Ukraine as their little brother, the breadbasket of the Soviet Union, a place for a nice dacha in the countryside.

The Kremlin sees Ukraine as the source of much of its military hardware.

Novorossiya, or East Ukraine, is really just a euphemism for the heart of Soviet military industry.

It’s obvious why Russia wanted Crimea, Black Sea access and all.

The same goes for East Ukraine — heavy industry takes time to replace, especially with Western sanctions hollowing out the Russian military.

And to put icing on the cake, how about a land bridge between the two?

So now you see why Moscow risked it all to directly use the Russian active-duty military in East Ukraine.

It simply is a bridge too far for the Kremlin to see Ukraine go over to the dark, Western side.

Therefore, Putin has thrown in the kitchen sink.

He’s burned the bodies [of his soldiers who died in Ukraine.]

He’s continues the lies [and the stupid soviet propaganda.]

[Former President Ronald Reagan was absolutely right in labelling Russia the "Evil Empire"]

[One day President Obama may come to the realization that Russia was, is and will be our worst enemy.]

But as Hillary Clinton is finding out, eventually, somebody screws up and you get caught red-handed.

Even if the majority of the Russian people don’t believe it, the rest of the world does.

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About Me

We arrived in Kiev (Kyiv) on December 28, 1990 from Morristown, New Jersey, USA. This was back in the days of Perestroika and before Ukraine gained its independence from Moscow, in 1991. We lived in both Kiev and Odessa, Ukraine. After 20 years in the "Workers' Paradise" we returned to the United States of America. Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, is one of the more charming cities in Europe. This 1500-year old city, with a population of nearly 3 million people, is a leading industrial and commercial center of the country. This blog is a public service, for anyone interested in the political, business and social climates of Ukraine. Information is gathered from numerous international and local news sources, and updated 24/7. You are encouraged to leave comments on this blog, but you must have a free Google mail account.